Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Who do I think of when you say “look into the future,” you ask?

Much to my disappointment, there were no Grims in this book. However, there were plenty of other awesome things that made up for it.

Basically, when Addie is faced with a choice, she can Search the future to see what will happen and choose the option that is best. When she Searches, the option she doesn’t pick still feels like it’s real. Which is a major drawback. When Addie’s parents get divorced, she has to choose which parent to stay with. The book alternates between two POVs – one where she’s with her mum in the paranormal world, and one with her dad in the “normal” world.

I really really liked this book and how it was told.

In another writer’s hands, this could have been dreadfully confusing. But a few things helped with switching back and forth between the two Searches.

1) At the top of each chapter is a definition, with either PARA or NORM in the word. “Para” is the world where people have cool abilities, and “Norm” is the boring human world. So that helps. It also took me an embarrassingly long time to realise.

2) Kasie West is such an amazing writer that I was never confused about what was going on.

The main reason I picked up this book is because of Kasie West, because I LOVED The Distance Between Us and On the Fence. Well, also because my sister would only buy books that she wanted to read as well. Luckily this was on the list. The last reason, though, was that the premise was amazing. I love the idea of the future and how it changes with each decision you make.

For example, if Past Emily had read that book for English like she was supposed to, Present Emily wouldn’t be frantically trying to skim it before going back to school.

I really liked how, through each different perspective, you got to figure out things from the OTHER perspective – how the mystery was laced through both parts of the story. That was really really clever, I thought.

Also! Characters!

Laila, Addie’s best friend, was completely hilarious and I loved her. Trevor, one of the love interests, was also really funny and witty (no surprise I’m team Trevor). Addie herself is easy to like – she knows how to make her own decisions and also she likes books.

(seriously, if you need gifs for reviews Harry Potter has you covered)

This was such an interesting concept to explore – there’s a lot of scope there, and I look forward to seeing how the story develops in Split Second. The ending of this, of seeing which option Addie has to choose…oh my goodness, I could not look away for a second. In a way this would be an awful ability to have – imagine having to choose between two horrible futures? Or even two really amazing ones, really.

The writing is easy to read and flows well. It’s got that contemporary style as well as incorporating supernatural/paranormal elements – that sort of genre mash-up is something I really like.

Now I’ll have to go and search out some other alternate-reality books, because I LOVED this one! Split Second isn’t out in paperback yet, I don’t think, but when it is I can’t wait to read it.

Rating: 4.5/5 Wonderkitties

And tell me: if you had the option to Search your future at a “pivot point” or crucial decision, would you take the opportunity?

20 thoughts on “Pivot Point by Kasie West: Which Future Do I Choose?”

I think I’d rather not imagine choosing between too bad futures. I haven’t read this yet and I can’t even imagine what the two choices could be. Surely one must out weigh the other…right? I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Glad to see you like this one, I have a copy of this on my bookshelf and still need to read it! (as with a few more of my books…) Seeing this positive review definitely makes me even more motivated to pick it up 🙂

I’m glad you liked this one! Kasie West is a great author, and I can’t wait until I can pick up a copy of On the Fence. I’ve also yet to read Split Second, BUT it looks equally as good. And the cover is amazing. So that helps, haha! As for your question at the end… honestly, I don’t know! Part of me is always curious, and would want to know… but the other part would just rather not know because I hate making tough decisions. >.<

Kasie West is AMAZING. I will read anything she writes after loving all three books of hers that I’ve read. Oh gosh, you hit the nail on the head – I’m awful at making any decisions but at the same time…I’d really want to know. But I think my inability to choose would win out in the end and I wouldn’t be able to do it! 🙂

Aah, I’m so glad you liked it! 😀 Pivot Point is one of my favourite books. It really surprised me back when I first read it – I hadn’t expected things to get so… serious towards the end. And yep, definitely team Trevor here.

And your question… Hmm. I’m not sure. I like knowing things beforehand so I can make a carefully thought-out decision, but it would also sort of feel like cheating. And then you get the lack of a surprise element – if you already know what’s going to happen before it happens, I think you would sort of stop living and just await the things to come. But then again, I would also like making sure I don’t choose the “wrong”/less good path. So again… Not sure 😛

I know! It started out pretty light-hearted and then woahhhh at the end.

I get you with how it would feel like cheating. That’s a good point. You would get so bogged down in making the right decision that you might not take a chance – I’d be forever thinking, what if I made the wrong choice?…wow, this has got me thinking even more than I thought!

You are not alone. It took me ages to figure out what’s the essence of PARA and NORM in every chapter. And I totally agree that West was able to handle the plot masterfully. If I was Addie I’d seriously have a mental breakdown from all that decision making. Haha. Great review, Emily. Love the GIFs!

You seem to be the expert at finding weird and creepy gifs. The first one in this post…The potato with the creepy face…The creepy dancing gif…Haha. I don’t think I would be able to Search my future at a pivot point because I am horrible at making tough decisions. It is evident when I go to the library and I pick out a huge stack of books that I want, but I’m only allowed to take a few books and I have to choose which ones to borrow. I think I might read this book because the premise is cool, I love beautiful writing and I love chapters that switch points of view.

I AM THE CREEPY GIF EXPERT. I’m kidding. Tumblr’s just weird 😛 Hahahaha, the library is such a good analogy. I would search to see if I enjoyed a book or not, lol – save my time by only reading books I enjoyed 🙂

I actually won this one in a giveaway so I a really looking forward to reading it.. soon 😛 I wasn’t the biggest fan of On the Fence but people have been raving about Pivot Point (and Trevor) and I simply cannot wait to read this (meet him).

Oooh, lucky you! I got On the Fence for review aaaages ago (still have no idea why they had such early copies) but since this is a different genre, you might like it. (and you can’t go wrong with Harry Potter gifs, haha)

I really don’t find it surprising that you found yourself loving this one, Emily 😀 It seems everyone else loves Kasie West but me ^^;; (Don’t ask me why but I tried to read two books from her so far and both of them were DNFs D:) BTW, if you like themes liek this one (where you choose two paths or something like that) check out PARALLEL by Lauren Miller. IT’S LEGIT GOOD, I SWEAR.